Nomic for Discord
Using this template? Share your journey and experiences with #discordnomic on Twitter!
This is a template to create a Discord-based game of Nomic, a game of making, creating, and changing itself, yourself. Think of it as Twitch Plays Game Design.
The basic gist is that the game starts with nothing but a set of mechanics to be able to propose and vote on changes to the game.
People can then suggest changes to the rules, others vote on them, and the game goes in wild directions chasing various different goals and ends, getting wildly more complex as it continues.
What counts as winning or losing, how you win or lose, or even if it's called winning or losing – it's all up to you, and what you want to do!
If you need more examples, you should look up some examples of Nomic games and where they've gone.
This is for use with either an existing server or a new server, but a template server can be found here.
A few points for this template:
- If you are playing in a dedicated server instead of a channel category (which you likely are if you are using the discord template), you may remove
I6, as well as the second part ofI5. - Depending on your player count, you may want to change the starting rule
003. - You should put your starting gamemasters in rule
005. - The game can break, and break hard. It is up to you whether to decide to enact
I4to get it back on track, or if you think what happened is good or funny enough to call it ends and start over. I2is for the sake of not immediately ending all your games, and may be seen as “impure” Nomic. If you see it as impure, feel free to remove it!
Feel free to change anything here you want, for any reason! Nomic is a set of games, so if you want to add any new twists to the formula, you can. There are plenty of different types of Nomic and ideas you can find online to make your game even more fun.
Once you've set everything up, you can feel free to delete the #see-channel-description channel, if you are using the template server.
info [permanent]
Description: Welcome to our game of Nomic! Here's some info. [Permanent]
This channel starts locked to @gamemasters.
> **What is Nomic?**
Nomic is the generic name for a set of games where the rules are defined by the players via some sort of voting system. Think of it as Twitch Plays Game Design.
The basic gist is that the game starts with nothing but a set of mechanics to be able to propose and vote on changes to the game.
People can then suggest changes to the rules, others vote on them, and the game goes in wild directions chasing various different goals and ends, getting wildly more complex as it continues.
What counts as winning or losing, how you win or lose, or even if it's called winning or losing - it's all up to you, and what you want to do!
> **How do I get started?**
For now, read our current rules in #ruleset, propose changes in #proposals, and vote for or against your favorite proposals!
> **Current Mechanics**
Currently, the vote limits are both 4 and the emotes are :arrow_down_small: and :arrow_up_small:.
ruleset [permanent]
Description: Our current ruleset for our game of Nomic. [Permanent]
This channel starts locked to @gamemasters.
> **THIS IS THE START OF THE IMMUTABLE SECTION.**
I1. Any section marked as immutable cannot be changed by proposal, and any channel marked as [Permanent] in the description cannot be deleted.
I2. The game may not be erased directly by proposal, although things may be erased in roundabout ways.
I3. @gamemasters will always be able to administrate the game, and if needed, can break the rules and maintain the server for the sake of keeping everything fun.
I4. Proposals cannot break the server rules or Discord terms of service, and do not apply outside of the Nomic category (although players may choose to play along if they so desire).
I5. The moment you type or react in the Nomic category, you are immediately considered a player and must follow the ruleset in the category.
> **This is the end of the immutable section, and the start of all mutable rules.**
001. All proposals are placed in #proposals.
002. A :arrow_up_small: reaction to a proposal counts as a vote for, and a :arrow_down_small: reaction as a vote against.
003. 4 votes for a proposal passes it, while 4 votes against bars it from passing.
004. A proposal can change, remove, or add a rule, or add/rename a channel or change a channel description.
005. The role @gamemasters gives admin control over the game, and allows those with it to run #log, #ruleset, and #gamestate.
gamestate
Description: Keeps track of game mechanisms & player states.
This channel starts empty, and locked to @gamemasters. It can be used to track things that may related to rules, i.e. objects that players are given or more complex features.
log
Description: Logs of the enaction of proposals and noteworthy changes.
This channel starts empty, and locked to @gamemasters. Usually, you'd post an enaction message, alongside an image of the enacted proposal, but you can do whatever you wish if you don't have rules about it.
proposals [permanent]
Description: Propose changes to our game of Nomic. [Permanent]
This channel normally starts empty, though you can remind people of how you vote if you want.
discussion
Description: Discuss our game of Nomic.
This channel starts empty.
gamemasters
Description: Gamemasters discussing how to run the game.
This channel starts empty, and locked to @gamemasters; however, normal players can still view the contents.